Daddy's Girl
by Kelila
Summary: Jack discovers who her parents are. Rated T for gratuitous amounts of Jack and Zaeed both using their favorite words.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey. Yes, another Kink Meme fill I did. I rather enjoy doing these.

**Summary:** (You know, in case you didn't read it out there...) Jack discovers who her real parents are. Rated T for lots of "goddamm"s and "shit"s, and a few others. But seriously, I can't be the only one who gets all happy every time Zaeed says "goddamm" the way he does, right?

**Disclaimer:** Mass Effect belongs to Bioware, this awesome idea I may just have to adopt as my own headcanon belongs to an anon on the KMeme. Guess I don't own much myself ;)

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Jack paced in front of the fuzzy hologram of Liara. She did not know the asari well, but she had learned that anyone that Shepard had trusted, she could trust as well. Still, she narrowed her eyes at the asari, regarding her coolly.

**"**You found what?" she asked.

Liara shuffled slightly under the deadly gaze of the powerful biotic. Somehow, the lightyears between them did not seem all that far. "I found your family."

A million different retorts and snide comments raced through Jack's head before she finally settled on, "Well, shit."

**"**I don't have to tell you anything if you don't want to know," Liara said softly.

Jack shrugged. "It's not like I care," she said, remembering to try to watch the defensive tone in her voice. Shepard had told her that it put some people on edge. "I sort of figured they were dead or something."

**"**Well, your mother has been missing since the war, so it would be safe to assume..." Liara trailed off. She looked down. "But your father. The birth records indicate that your father is Zaeed Massani."

**"**Well, shit."**  
**


	2. Chapter 2

****Zaeed was not easily intimidated, and the small, skinny girl before him with her over-thick lips and her big brown eyes should not seem so intimidating. But this particular girl was covered in tattoos, her hairstyle gave the impression that she did not care about what anyone thought, and he knew her biotics could crush him like a grape. She was intimidating despite the fact that she had to look up at the older man.

She had contacted him, demanded that they meet up, and hung up on him abruptly. When she made it to the bar and stormed up to him, he had braced himself to be hit, though he was unsure why. But she just stared at him instead. For a long moment nothing was said, she eventually ordered them both a drink.

He had never noticed before that they enjoyed the same alcohol.

When the drinks arrived, she sat down, knocked back a swallow. Grimacing, she looked over at him with her usual scowl. Finally she spoke, and her words threw Zaeed off. "So, what have you been up to?"

He looked over at the young woman. "The hell? You come all this way just to catch up?"

Jack took another drink, quickly, like she was attacking it. Zaeed slowly sipped his drink. Jack stared at him intently, as if looking for something she did not expect to find. "No," she finally told him. She opened her mouth, then closed it. She glared at Zaeed, trying again to say something that seemed to not want to come out. She eventually settled on, "Hell.

"Zaeed finished his drink slowly. He watched Jack. She reminded him of a girl he had known. True, that particular girl had had a full head of hair and no tattoos, but the eyes...Jack had this girl's eyes. Zaeed wondered how he had never noticed before. She looked so much like her.**"**Okay, listen," Jack started. "Shepard's little asari buddy, Liara?"

**"**I know her," Zaeed said. "Reminds me of another asari I knew. Quiet lil' thing. But when she gets-"

**"**Hey!" Jack interrupted. "I'm am not here to listen to you reminisce about all the women you used and left."

**"**I don't use and leave women," Zaeed protested.

**"**Oh?" Jack challenged. She hopped up from her chair, toppling her drink over. "Do you know if you have any kids?"

Zaeed stared at Jack. She really did have her eyes, and her nose. Zaeed imagine dark curls of wispy brown hair around Jack's face. "Well I'll be godammed. Marla." He swallowed, his throat seeming suddenly dry, then took a gulp of his drink. "Jennifer?"


	3. Chapter 3

Jack pressed her lips together. She looked Zaeed over before she finally spoke. "You knew?" she accused, her voice a dangerous, low growl.

**"**Marla told me you were dead!" Zaeed exclaimed. His voice caught.

**"**You weren't there?"

Zaeed was quiet for a long time, looking down at the bar. "I met Marla on Omega a long time ago. Stripper. Beautiful. I had just founded the Blue Suns when she told me. I sent her back to her family on Eden Prime. Sent her money from my jobs."

**"**But you left her?" Jack accused.

Zaeed stared at the bar. "I wasn't cut out to be a godammed father," he barked. He ordered another drink; he was going to need it. "I visited sometimes. You were always..." he trailed off. "I'm not really one for these emotional... things."

Jack scoffed, "Hell, neither am I." She finished her drink. "Liara just told me. And I thought..." she sighed. "I don't know what I thought. I've never had anyone reliable in my life. I'm used to that. I'm the reliable one now. Doesn't matter."

She stood to leave. Zaeed caught her arm.

**"**Wait," he said. She turned back. "Those five years were good. And when Marla told me my daughter was dead... It was just after Vido had left me for dead. I thought, at least I have a beautiful girl to go back to. But instead, I come back to Eden Prime only to hear she was gone. I was left with nothing to live for but my revenge."

Jack took her seat back. She ordered two more drinks. Zaeed drained his glass in one gulp. "Maybe," he started. "Maybe if I had been there... You'd be..." Zaeed trailed off. He tried to start again, "Maybe with me to back her up, we could have stopped Cerberus." Zaeed spat out the name of his ex-employer, but his vehemence died quickly, replaced with a choked sob. "I should have been there."

Jack sighed. "Maybe. But the past is gone and buried. In some cases, blown up with a big fucking bomb." She smirked. She probably could have moved on without bombing the Teltin facility on Pragia, but much like biotics moved their body to represent what they wanted their mind to accomplish, blowing away a physical symbol of her past had helped.

**"**You're the kind of kid every father should be proud of," Zaeed said quietly.

Jack peered through the dim lights at Zaeed. A wet streak glimmered down his cheek.

**"**Shit," Jack started. She had something profound and gooey to say, something she had learned from Shepard.

But she was cut off by a flying glass. It shattered near her hand on the bar. She glared behind her. Zaeed stood.

**"**Hey," he shouted. He stepped between the glass tosser and Jack. "Why don't you watch where you're throwing your shit!" He stepped forward and punched the man square in the teeth. He stumbled back into a passerby batarian, who pushed him back toward Zaeed, then advanced on him. The batarian swung his fist toward Zaeed. Jack surged forward and caught it. She put a bit of biotic charge behind her own punch, sending her opponent flying back.

**"**Goddamm batarians," Zaeed cursed. His voice was just loud enough to carry to the surrounding tables, some of which seated several batarians. The slighted party stood, advancing menacingly on the two humans. Jack readied herself for the fight. Next to her, Zaeed grumbled something about "old" and "retired" but prepared the same as Jack.**  
****  
**Amidst throwing punches, kicks, and curses, other patrons had joined the fight. While several fought against the batarians, and each other, it seemed every one of them had it out for Jack and Zaeed as well. Jack knew better than to let herself get backed into a corner, so she let her adrenaline fueled body push her forward, flinging people out of her way to cut a path to a more open area. Zaeed followed close behind her, almost protectively, calmly bringing his fist or elbow down to the faces of anyone stupid or drunk enough to get close.

The group of drunken patrons fighting was not as big as it seemed, and Jack made it to an opening in the chaos quickly. Spinning around, she charged up her biotics, lifting a table and tossing it behind Zaeed, hurling it into the group of angry patrons.

It did not keep them completely separate from the fight. A few men managed to pull off some physics defying moves they never could have done sober, and found themselves on Jack and Zaeed's side of the overturned table. They were evenly matched, four to two. Jack lost herself in her fight. Some part of her mind tried to remind her that as a teacher in an Alliance funded school, calmly participating in a bar fight was the worst thing she could be doing.

She ducked under the wildly swinging arm of one opponent, and whirled around to crash her fist into the stomach of the other. He doubled over and she easily pushed him down. He struggled to get up, giving Jack a moment to return her attention to the other. He had picked up a chair, and Jack turned to him just in time to hop back and out of the way. The miss sent the chair dragging the man forward with its momentum. He stumbled, and Jack used that against him, kicking her foot out so that he tripped over it and crashed to the ground.

By then, the first man had managed to rise again. He threw his weight into Jack, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her arms to her side. She did not fight the pull of gravity, and when they fell, the man let go to catch himself. Jack landed on the ground with a thud, but did not let it slow her down. She pushed her legs up between herself and the man, kicking up so his forward motion sent him flying over her instead of landing on top. He sailed past Jack's head and landed on his partner. Neither stood up again.

Jack rolled to her feet. Turning for Zaeed, she saw that he was not faring as well as she was. He had put up a good fight, tearing shirts and turning noses bloody and eyes black, but one man now had him restrained while the other sent punch after punch into Zaeed's face and stomach. Jack moved quickly, her adrenaline now heightened with rage. She snapped her leg up, catching the man between the legs with her heavy boot. He released Zaeed and stumbled back to clench at his lower regions. Zaeed surged forward and caught his assailant by the arm. Swinging him around, he gathered the man's hair in his fist, then reached for his second opponent. Jack pushed him forward, and Zaeed caught his shirt collar. He dragged the two men's heads together, and they collided, crumpling to the floor when Zaeed released them.

By then, security had arrived and was culling the fight. Several patrons were restrained or unconscious. Others were already being escorted out roughly. Jack wiped the back of her hand across her nose, realizing for the first time that it had become bloody sometime during the fight. She glanced down at her knuckles to see that they were bruised and cut. The distraction was just enough to allow one of the bar's bouncers to get close to her and catch her around the arms, holding her firmly.

Jack's knee jerk reaction was to fight back, kicking wildly backwards and throwing her head back with a startled yell.

**"**That's enough!" the bouncer barked into her ear.

Jack calmed, but she let out an annoyed grunt. She glanced over at Zaeed to see that he, too, was being thrown out, roughly pushed along by his shoulder toward the door. The bouncers sent them flying through the door and into the ground outside the bar at the same time. Zaeed hopped to his feet and reached a hand down for Jack. She took it, and he pulled her up.

Jack wiped her hands across her now torn jeans. "Hah," she said. "Goddamm drunks."

**"**Helluva girl," Zaeed responded proudly.

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**A/N:** And there we have it. A bit of a tender moment, then some awesome bonding between two violent crazies. Also, I apologize to anyone who is a fan of them as a couple who read this... cuz either this was weird for you, or you'll never be able to look at Jack/Zaeed smut ever again. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review. I do love seeing messages in my inbox!


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